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Advertisements:
Advertising, in its many forms, played a major role in the express business from the earliest days. The company devoted considerable attention to
Signs, "Call Cards," and newspaper advertisements. The natural expansion of business depended upon the company's reputation, of course. But first,
it was necessary to publicize whatever services were being offered.

In this case, "Express and Exchange" services are being offered. The miner wanted money for his gold dust, but pretty soon, the company would run
out of money. So, the company offered the miner a "Bill of Exchange" to send money to his wife and family back home.

The miner would pay for the Bill with his gold dust, and the company would send the gold dust and the Bill to an "Exchange Bank" back East. That way,
Wells Fargo & Co. would not run out of money. The miner's wife could then go to the bank and withdraw the money, while the gold dust would be shipped
to the U.S. Mint for coining. Other Wells Fargo & Co. advertisements offered Travelers Money Orders, U.S. Mail franks, and Express Franks.

Agency Appointments:
Each Wells Fargo & Co. office was run by a company-appointed Agent. The company was constantly seeking
trustworthy people to fill these positions.

Prominent and successful storekeepers, attorneys, and other community leaders frequently were asked to represent the interests of the company
in their own home town, or to travel to a remote mining camp and open a new Office.

The appointment certificate or letter was displayed publicly, in laudable recognition of the company's trust in the individual. To be appointed an agent
frequently ensured the person a prominent position in the community.

The photos show agent Oscar C. Hacker and his secretary, Marie Hicks, at their Dayton, Ohio office, which had just been rebuilt following the destruction of the flood of 1913. Note the water damage to the door and building foundation.

Books:
Many "Books" that were used by the company were merely sheets of blank business forms, bound together, and stored someplace in the office.
These "Forms" are presented in a separate section.

A Directory, or Shippers' Guide, as well as a Tariff book were Office reference books. They were made available to the public to encourage more business.
Many other books and booklets were also available for public use, such as Tourist Guide Books to Mexico, Washington D.C., and various other tourist destinations.

Perhaps the most important book was the Instruction Book. This book spelled out, in no uncertain terms, the duties and responsibilities of messengers and agents.
Specific instructions were given for everything from issuing and handling firearms, to sealing coin bags, and sealing Money Envelopes with wax. The proper conduct
of each agent and messenger was never left to chance.

Boxes:
Pine wood, with oak rims and reinforcing steel straps, was the preferred material for the
Treasure Box, the most important one of many different kinds
of company boxes. The oak rims and steel straps were used to prolong the
life of the box, to protect the box from wear and tear, and to deter robbery and pilferage.

However, any wooden box could be opened easily with a good axe, or a round fired from a shot gun!

All of the company Treasure Boxes were made to strict specifications by J. Y. Ayer in San Francisco.
Any so-called "Wells Fargo strong box" that departs from this appearance is undoubtedly a fake.

The company issued many other boxes, such as Letter Boxes, "Old Horse" Boxes, Messenger's Kit Boxes, and Packing Trunks, to name a few.

Call Cards:
Frequently called "cardboard signs," call cards were used by the merchants and regular customers, rather
than by the express office. When the packages were ready for shipment,
the customer would simply hang the call card outside on a nail, or in his shop window. This signaled the express driver to stop and "call" on the customer.

While on their regular "freight runs," express company drivers and messengers would see the call card, call on the customer, pick up the packages, and return the call card to the customer.

Call cards were used as early as 1880, with newer versions issued in 1888, 1898, 1911, and 1913. The call card pictured here is the 1913 version.

Cap Badges:
Engraved, "German-silver" cap badges (top left) began appearing in the 1870's. In the summer heat, the seven-inch badges were too hot, so they were replaced
by the cooler embossed badges shown at lower left.

The number on the cap badge matched the number on the Messenger's Seal. Messengers were known, and their work recognized by their unique number.
Very few Cap Badges and their corresponding Seals are ever "paired up." This is a rare example: See the Number 12 Sealer!

Employees used used regular brass paper fasteners to attach the cap badge to the cap. The fasteners on the back of the embossed cap badges did not last, so most employees punched holes
in them and used the customary brass paper fasteners.

Agents, Drivers, Messengers, Porters, and Transfer clerks needed to be identified, because they constantly came into contact with the public.

Each one of these employees was issued a numbered badge. Therefore, the lower the number, the earlier the date of issue.

In 1888, three company departments were established, so a letter prefix was added to the number: "P", "C", and "A" for Pacific, Central, and Atlantic Departments, respectively.

Directories:
Directories were tables of destinations and other information needed by the agent to properly route all express business. Earlier "directories" were
simply alphabetical Lists of Offices, but later editions began to use destination codes.

Express company destination codes, refined later by the American Railway Express Co. and the Railway Express Agency, were the forerunners
of the modern-day Zip Codes and airport codes on airline baggage tags.

Firearms:
Agents issued one or more firearms to messengers and guards at the start of their "run:" A revolver with belt and holster, a shot gun, and a rifle.
Messengers and guards were responsible to check them to be clean and operational, and to load them with the ammunition provided by the agent.

This Ithaca double-barrel 12-gauge shot gun, serial number 219,802, was typical of the major firearm used by Messengers to protect
the shipments of gold, coin, and valuables. While most early shot guns were engraved with the company name between the barrels,
this one was engraved on the trigger housing.

Wood stocks were replaced easily, so the company did not mark its name on the stocks. Since the firearms were issued wherever they were needed,
locations were not marked on any firearms.

Forms:
The company used business forms numbered in the hundreds, far too many to be documented here.

There was probably one printed form for every conceivable event in the course of running the business.
Sometimes the form numbers conflicted. Eventually, renumbering the forms caused even further conflicts.

Using this Commission Envelope, Charles Koch, in Columbia, California, is asking the agent in Virginia City, Nevada, to collect a $20.00 dividend
from the Secretary of the Yellow Jacket Silver Mining Company. The agent collected the dividend and retained a $1.00 commission for the company.

Franks:
In the latter half of the 19th century, a service that was pre-paid, or performed
free-of-charge by the government or a company was known as a "Frank." Members
of the U.S. Congress had long used the "Franking Privelege" to send official mail to constituents without paying postage.

Most of the stage and packet lines, railroads, telegraph, and express companies in that period issued one or more types of franks. The franks were gratuities
that were given to business associates and favored customers free of charge, usually in return for similar favors.

Wells Fargo & Co. was allowed to print U.S. Postage franks and sell them at a profit, in return for delivering mail for the government. This exquisite poster advertises this service.

Other types of franks were Annual Franks for personal use, and books of gummed Package Franks.

GOLD!
On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California -- the start of the famous California Gold Rush.
For the next thirty years, hundreds of thousands of gold-seekers poured into California in covered wagons, steamers, and sailing ships.

Gold comes in many forms, and Marshall discovered it in its most convenient one -- he merely picked up a handful of gold "nuggets,"
which were readily visible in the mill race.

Two other forms are gold "quartz" and "dust." Gold quartz was a fusing of the metal with hardened silicon -- it had to be mined and "picked" out of the dark and damp spaces
in "diggings" that the miners carved into the hills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Gold dust was a sand-like accumulation of grains that had to be "panned" from the rivers and streams. Thus, the advent of the "pick and pan peddlers" that set up shop
and sold the tools at exorbitant prices to the would-be gold-seekers.

The image shown here is from Wikimedia Commons. Additional fine examples of gold nuggets and gold quartz can be seen on various websites, such as
Nevada Outback Gems.
Exquisite examples of placer gold nuggets are on display at the Wells Fargo History Museums in
San Francisco and
San Diego
California.
NOTE: On these websites, wait for the images to be displayed, then "page through" the images until the gold nuggets are displayed.

For additional history and details of the California Gold Rush, be sure and visit the Wikipedia website.

Highwaymen:
In the Old West, robbers, outlaws, and bandits were known simply as "Highwaymen." While many of these men were noted for their daring and violence, one man stands out aove all the rest.
This photo shows the gentle soul, Charles E. Boles, whom we all know today as "Black Bart." He enjoyed the finer things of life at the expense of Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express.
He considered it his duty to convince the stage coach's Wells Fargo messenger to give up the green treasure box.
He was a poet at heart, and he left this poem at one of the robbery sites:

Within the company, only the male animals were called "horses." The females were always called "mares." Whenever possible, horses and mares were always harnessed
to wagons and stage coaches in "matched pairs." They were fed every morning, noon, and night -- 4-6 quarts of oats per meal, and 10-15 pounds of hay per day.

Lamps & Lanterns:
The agent at Ardmore, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) purchased a "lamp" in 1894 for $0.20, and classified it as "Office Property." He purchased a "desk lamp" in 1899
for an unspecified amount. So far, no authentic Wells Fargo & Co. lamps or desk lamps have ever been found.

Authentic kerosene lanterns, on the other hand, are plentiful. These lanterns were purchased from many of the railroad supply houses and manufacturers,
such as Adams & Westlake, M.M. Buck, and Handlan, Inc.

"Wire Cage" lanterns used one or two heavy horizontal wire rings to protect the globe, with an additional wire ring forming the top
of the cage, and still another forming the bottom.

The globes were always clear, and often etched or embossed with the company's initials.

This lantern is an excellent example -- manufactured by Star Headlight Co., with an embossed clear globe.

Locks & Keys:
Locks & Keys of various types were used to lock office doors, treasure boxes, kit trunks, express cars, day wagon cages, and office cages.
Ayers, Climax, and Romer are the common manufacturers. The locks were assembled by the manufacturers
from either malleable iron or brass parts.

Instruction #18 from the 1884 Book of Instructions bears witness to the high value placed upon keys within the company:
"Losing a key, or forwarding a treasure box unlocked, will not be excused."

This lock has an "integrated" locking mechanism, which dates back to 1871: It requires a turn of the key to close the lock. The "modular"
locking mechanism merely requires the shackle to be pressed firmly into the body to close the lock. Note the missing "&" on the key (a very rare error).

Photos:
Photography was still in its infancy in the early years of the company. However, the expressmen, their offices, and the stage coaches
and wagons upon which they rode, captured the attention of enough photographers to record for us a few moments in the livea of the agents and messengers.

This photo shows messengers in the Reno, Nevada office around 1880, with their shot guns, coin bags, and treasure boxes. The messenger on the far right
holds a cord that is attached to the camera's shutter, allowing him to take a "selfie" with his friends.

Scales:
The gold scale was the most important instrument in the gold country. It established a fair return to the miners for the grains of gold dust
that had been extracted painfully from the streams and rivers.

Howard & Davis manufactured this scale in Boston, and it became the standard for Wells Fargo & Co. When he saw his dust being weighed,
each miner knew that he was getting a fair value from Wells Fargo.

First, the scale was leveled and the beam was balanced. The pans were cleaned and allowed to hang freely until the pointer was zeroed on the scale.
Then, the arrester stabilized the pans and the gold dust was poured onto one pan.

Weights were placed upon the other pan and the arrester released the pans. Weights were
added or removed until the pointer once again was zeroed on the scale.

At that time, the weight was noted, and the miner was paid the proper amount, either in gold coins, or in credit to his account.

The Howard & Davis gold scale was so accurate that pencil marks on a waybill were enough to upset the balance of a blank waybill.
(Photo courtesy of Wells Fargo Bank)

For centuries, seals have been used to ensure that the contents of an envelope or
package would reach its addressee, uncompromised, and unaltered by the carrier.

A seal, therefore, is a device that is unique, is affixed by the
sender, is easily recognized by the addressee, and is difficult, if not
impossible, to duplicate.

These two fine seals represent thousands of similar seals issued by the company. In this case, Seal #12 was issued to a Messenger, along with a Cap Badge with the same number.
The number on the Messenger seal matched the number on the Messenger's Cap Badge. Very few are still together -- an exception is shown here: See the #12 Cap Badge!

The Seal on the right is an "Office Seal," and was issued to the agent at Oroville, California.

These photos were taken with the seals next to mirrors in order to reflect the Seals' impressions in the photographs. In addition, kitchen flour was impressed into the Oroville sealer to show the lettering. Today, seals are commonly called "wax sealers."

Four-wheeled trucks and wagons included single wagons, day wagons, double wagons, cage wagons, and mud wagons, each of which had its specific use.

This photo shows a driver and messenger on their daily "rounds" on a "fifth wheel" day wagon. The fifth wheel was mounted horizontally
underneath the driver and messenger, attached to the front axle. It allowed a vastly improved turning radius for the day wagon.

Notice that the horses pulling the wagon are "matched pairs," a company rule that was followed wherever possible.

Watches:
Wells Fargo & Company presented fine watches to messengers who performed meritorious service.
As an example, Messenger Aaron Y. Ross defended $60,000 in coin from highwaymen, and received this watch from a grateful company.

At Montello, Nevada in 1883, for 3-1/2 hours, Ross fended off repeated attempts to rob the Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express car on a Central Pacific Railroad passenger train.
Ross killed one bandit and wounded several others. Ross was wounded three times, but survived the ordeal.

Charles Crocker, head of the Southern Pacific Company, paid for Ross' medical recovery. Wells Fargo presented Ross with this watch and a check for $1,000.
One thousand dollars in 1883 is worth about $24,000 today.

Oh, by the way: Mrs. Ross presented him with a baby girl, whom he named "Montello."
Would you like to read the details about the robbery? Click here!